Two Ways to Teach
by Ms. htc
Summary: People change, relationships change, sometimes for the worse. Maybe in time they can get better..  for those of you who are worried bc im plaguerizing, it really is my story, i just changed my name. Ch2 up!
1. introduction

Disclaimer: if I owned ranma why would I write fanfiction?

Soun sighed again as he reached for his tea. The house was depressingly quiet to his noise-accustomed ears. It had been 8 years since the house had been filled with the noise that was his daughter and her fiancé, but the silence still seemed...out of place. He put down his tea, untouched and cold, and reached across the shoji board. This time another accompanied his sigh, that of his best friend who at the moment was a giant panda...

Nodoka walked through the halls of the mansion quickly. She had good news to tell her lady, and her lady sure needed it. Nodoka had been serving "Lady" for a little more than 3 years and every year around this time her lady became so detached and...cold was the only way to describe it, that it was all Nodoka could do not to start crying when she was around her. It had been a couple of days though and she should be getting over it soon, and this would certainly help.

Lady helps so many people, why can't she just have the happiness she deserves? she thought. Nodoka reached the end of the hall and opened the large double doors at the end, after placing her hand on a scanner, which read her fingerprints and unlocked it electronically.

She strode through the door placing the manila folder back under her arm from where she'd moved it to scan her hand. She walked through the foyer and walked into a large room which had a huge chair, bolted to the wall, that was more like a throne than a chair. What would have surprised any one unaccustomed to Lady's home, was the huge lioness that was currently draped over the "throne." As it was, the utterly savage sight was familiar and beloved to Nodoka. Looking around the room would prove that the lioness wasn't the only one, and the number of lionesses' perched on various pieces of furniture around the room, was enough to form a small feline army.

Nodoka walked forward, knelt, and stroked the lioness on the throne's massive head.

"Take me to her please," she whispered to the lioness. The lioness looked into Nodoka's brown eyes with her own amber eyes, and then stood up in that lazy, graceful, and deadly way only cats seem to manage.

Only cats and Lady can be that graceful, and yet seem not to care," thought Nodoka and as she listened to the lions silent walk " Thank Kami that Lady is not my enemy. I wouldn't live to see another dawn, with henchman so fiercely loyal."

As she thought about it that she realized that it didn't only apply to the lions; If Lady had asked her to kill someone, she probably would've done it with question. Of course the question wouldn't be necessary, Lady would explain why the death was important. She felt that if anyone was going to be involved in taking away something as important as life they should know why. Nodoka's thoughts trailed off as she reached another set of double doors.

They'd reached the gym that Lady used to train herself and her women. On the way there Nodoka and the lead dominant lioness, Tanto had picked up two more lionesses and together all four of them walked into the gym. The lionesses dispersed to find themselves niches to settle into, and Nodoka watched and waited for Lady to finish the kata she was performing.

She's beautiful. Like a dancer, so smooth and graceful Nodoka thought as she watched Lady. Suddenly the kata turned into a savage kick and a punch that had the ability to shatter cinder blocks into specks of dust.

No, not a dancer. She's too savage, too fierce to be a demure little ballerina- Nodoka's thoughts broke off as Lady finished up and turned to her.

"So Nodoka, what do you have to report that couldn't wait till our meeting tomorrow?" She smiled but it wasn't the genuine smile Nodoka wanted to see. It was better than the day before though, and that was enough for now.

" There's a new fighter in the city Lady. It's a she and according to our women in the forces she's quite formidable. She came from Okinawa to find the Crime King, The Blue Lion. Mai, you remember her, the chief of the department says she's made it her personal mission to find you."

Lady let out a short wry laugh. Like her smile, it wasn't as genuine as normal, but it would have to do.

"Oh Nodoka, how many times must I tell you? Call me Michiko! Are they still going on about that crime king thing? Well at least the female reporters know better.

This fighter, you've got her name, picture, stats? Is there any chance she'll join us?"

"How can you even ask if I have her info?" Nodoka asked jokingly as she pulled out the manila folder she'd put inside her black leather jacket flipping her short hair in mock indignance.

"Michiko!, Nodoka, Michiko!" she replied pretending to be stern.

She's getting her sense of humor back, that's good. Nodoka thought

Michiko opened the folder and pulled out one of the photos paper- clipped to it. She brought it closer to inspect it in more detail and then drew in a deep ragged breath. Then she placed the photo back in the folder, slowly, as if she was afraid of it, and if she made any sudden moves it would attack her. One of the lionesses', Tanto, sensing her mistress' discomfort, sauntered up and rubbed her head against Michiko's side. Michiko stroked the cat, but it seemed mechanical and as she petted it she said rather shakily

" Let's continue this in my rooms."

Nodoka followed Michiko as they left the gym and walked down the hall again, stopping at a hidden door, small and inconspicuous, nothing like most of the double doors in the gigantic house. The only thing that made it noticeable was the retina and hand scanner that allowed access into the room, but that too was hidden, disguised as a thermostat and if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't have spared it a second glance and continued on. Michiko flipped the "thermostat" to the scanner side and put her hand on it and looked into the retina scanner. After a couple of seconds an automated voice said

"Welcome Michiko. Password?"

" Blue lion" Michiko said in that same detached, shaky voice.

"Hey." the door opened and the 2 women walked in. "You've got some messages. Want me to play them?" the same automated voice said but now that it had confirmed its occupant it seemed a lot more real and less mechanical.

"No." was Michiko's curt response. Nodoka looked at Michiko. She was wearing the loose, drawstring pants, and the tight shirt, today both in black, that she always wore when she was training. Her long, thick, blue-black hair was tied into her customary training braid and she was barefoot. Her usually tan skin was rather pale, and her blue eyes seemed...withdrawn was the only word Nodoka could think of. Her hands, she noticed, were clenched and trembling.

What could possibly make Lady THIS upset? She thought, thinking of her normally calm, controlled, and commanding Lady. They walked through a couple of rooms; the door which at most one would've expected to contain a broom closet, actually hid a suite of rooms, many for the lions and a couple for Lady, bathrooms, a kitchen, bedrooms, an office, a weapons room...It was a large suite, but tiny compared to the whole house. When they reached the bedroom, Michiko sat down on the bed and Nodoka on a chair. For the amount of money Michiko obviously had by the rich decor of the house, and the sheer size of the house itself, her own personal suite was surprisingly plain; sparsely decorated.

For a while Michiko just sat and stared at her folded hands, and Nodoka, getting uncomfortable, and still worried, fidgeted and looked around, wondering why Michiko's own rooms were so plain.

"Do you know how old I am?" Michiko asked, startling Nodoka, and when she started shaking her head no, she continued:

" 25. I'm 25 years old. Almost 26, only 2 more months. All those years, wasted. What have I accomplished? Nothing. Nothing at-" Michiko was silenced as Nodoka burst out shocked:

"That's not true at all!" You're Michiko Sasaki-the queen of crime and Rumiko Hayasaka the city's most eligible bachelorette-slash-MILLIONAIRE. You've gotten so many women of the streets, helped them fight back against their abusive boyfriends, husbands. You've gotten rid of drugs, and petty crime. You're wonderful! You're beautiful, you're smart, you're rich, and you're one of the nicest people I know! You're one of the greatest fighters in the world if not THE best! -"

"Ah but Nodoka, if only you knew..." She sighed dejectedly.

"What about LOVE? Bachellorette I am, and there's a reason I'm single. After 8 years, I still fear this man." She said as she drew out the picture from the folder.

"The only man who ever conquered me..." She whispered, frightened again, as if the photo were a real person, and not just a picture. She drew in a ragged breath and touched the photo with her fingertips.

Nodoka was baffled.

"But La-Michiko," and as she looked up Nodoka continued:

"THAT, is a picture, of a WOMAN. A very...ROBUST woman. I'm afraid you've lost me."  
Michiko held up a photo.

"Tell me. What do you see Nodoka?"

" I see a red-headed, pigtailed, female, martial artist. Why?"

Michiko drew in another ragged breath.

"Because things aren't always what they seem. You see a buxom, feminine woman named Ranko. In reality he's a 26 year old man. A "man amongst men" as he's still alive. The last time I saw him he...he could defeat me without even trying. You see Ranko, I see Ranma. It doesn't matter, what I accomplish, how good I am at ANYTHING. This man will always be better. Fighting, cooking, acting, anything. I've never been in his league even back... even when... You call me Lady Nodoka. Lady, and Michiko, The Crime Queen, The Blue Lion, Rumiko...but it's all a LIE, Nodoka, a LIE. Everything is a lie. You think I'm some spectacular superwoman, but I'm NOT I'm NOT." Tears built up in her eyes but refused to fall.

"Michiko.." Said Nodoka softly and slightly shocked at the outburst from her normally relaxed and confident Lady.

" NO, that's NOT MY NAME!!" she screamed before crumpling into a small sobbing heap. Nodoka hugged the crying woman and said softly:

"I don't care WHAT your name is, you will ALLWAYS be my Lady."

"Michiko looked up, still crying and said:

"I am glad my present is so full of people like you, who don't care about my past. But how could I let my past catch up with my present?" She put her face in her hands and started sobbing again: "Why, why, did you have to come find me?? Why couldn't you just let it GO?!" After about 10 minutes she stopped rocking on her knees and fell asleep in Nodoka's arms. Nodoka put her in her bed and walked out after taking a last look at the tear stained face of her Lady.

"Take care of her," she whispered to the lions before shutting the door and walking out. As she walked through the suite to the hall a determined look came over her face. Sh-HE won't find you Lady. We won't let him, we'll protect you, like you protect us. Maybe he COULD defeat you but that was 8 years ago, and you were only 17, 2 years younger than I am now. Besides what army does he have? The cops? Right. All the female ones are with us and the rest are incompetent. Let him come, he'll get what he deserves, let him come."

Across the city in one of the police stations a young woman was discussing a certain crime lord with the police chief.

"In the last 3 years the rate of crime has actually decreased a great deal, as has, in huge percentages, the rate of rape and prostitution. Homicides have been decreasing in huge quantities also, bu-"

"I don't get it Chief. Why did you call me down here? To get rid of someone helping in a job your department obviously isn't good enough to handle by itself? Seems kinda dumb... a SMARTER guy would've taken the credit and let things be." The woman interrupted cheekily, blatantly insulting her host, but not caring in the least.

The heavy-set man, who'd obviously had too many rendezvous' with the donut shop, glared and continued.

"As I was saying. While the RATE of crime has gone down the CALIBER has increased exponentially. Before it was just people being mugged on the street, vandalism, drug-circulation, gang activities, kidnapping, drive-by shootings. As far as we know these activities have pretty much stopped. They just don't happen any more. No-one's buying pot anymore, and no-body's killing people from sniper's nests. And when they DO happen, on very rare occasion, they have nothing to do with this Blue Lion." Instead, wealthy aristocrats, Tokyo's finest, are being robbed, sometimes of MILLIONS of dollars, in jewelry, technology, even cold hard cash. He and his operatives are breaking into safes, guarded by men, cameras, even lasers. But the guy manages to get in anyway, grab the stuff and disappear. And it's not even just from people's houses. He's finding codes to accounts only their owners know, and he's transferring money out of the bank. Jewels too, BANK safes. This guy's breaking into BANK safes, and those are watched by cameras and top guards. We don't know how he does it. These people have the best security money can buy. And another thing. A guard has never been hurt. Not a single one has even had a bump on his head, but they haven't seen anything either. A lot of the time they'll be asleep, which in itself is weird, because these guys are really experienced. We had them tested for sleeping drugs and they came up negative. We've ruled out inside jobs, because to pay off the amount of guards that would need paying off would cost more than even Rumiko Hayasaka could afford. There's just too many of them and they cost too much to pay 'em all off. The only thing we can think of is the air ducts, but we've had to rule that out too, sometimes the air ducts are too small to fit the people, or whatever it was they stole. We called your BOSS, not YOU, because we need help bringing him in." The chief leaned back in his chair, folding his arms, and looking smug.

The woman sat back in her chair puzzled and frowning.

"Tell me chief. What do all these "aristocrats" have in common? I'm sure you looked that up before you called my BOSS for help."

The chief, looking a little uncomfortable but trying to hide it, fidgeted as he answered:

"All of them are RUMORED to have made their money in slightly... UNORTHODOX ways, and/or of making rather large... contributions to certain people..."

At this the buxom redhead burst out laughing.

"So all we have here is a self-imposed vigilante who knows his stuff huh? Interesting."  
"It's NOT funny!!" The infuriated chief yelled.

"You've forgotten who you're talking to." The woman said sharply, all traces of humor gone.

"Forgive me Miss Yamamoto." He said bowing his balding head.

"Ya, whatever" she replied, returning to her relaxed state of draping over her chair and swinging her legs.

"So what about the rape and stuff? What happened there?"

"Not much to tell. Suddenly the seedier parts of town cleaned up. The whores disappeared of the streets. Rape cases went down to 0. We think it's 'cause of the program we've been insti-"

"Bullshit. It's this guy and you know it." Yamamoto interrupted again and then watched the chief seethe in silent anger through half- lidded eyes. She smirked and went on  
"What about the name?"

"Huh?" was the Chief's intelligent reply.

Miss Yamamoto sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Blue L-lion- not exactly something every mother would name her son," she stated  
"Oh. um, we don't know why he's called that, he just is"

Miss Yamamoto raised one eye skeptically

"Do you even have pictures of this guy?" she asked condescendingly.

"No, but we DO have some tapes. Here" The chief pulled out one of the drawers on his wooden desk and pulled out a 4 tapes and then handed them to Ms. Yamamoto.

"Watch 'em at home." the Chief said, telling Ms. Yamamoto to get out, none too tactfully.  
She snorted in a very un-lady like manner and replied:

" My pleasure. The stink of donuts and stale coffee is too strong. Later "chief"" and then walked out of the station leaving the chief wallowing in his fury and indignation.

Authors note: this is my first fanfic so feedback is really appreciated. Constructive criticism is welcomed, flames are not, so please don't send any. They're mean, pointless, and unhelpful. Please review.


	2. explanations

Michiko woke up in her bed to see one of the lionesses' staring at her. She smiled on reflex but it was a sad smile.

Why do I feel so shitty? she thought to herself. And after a couple of seconds the memories came flooding back. Her eyes watered immediately but the tears didn't fall.

I won't cry, I won't cry, I WILL NOT CRY!!! I lost control last night. Oh god what did I say?!? She thought to herself.

Suddenly there was a tentative knock on the door.

"Come in!" She called after only a short calming breath. Nodoka stuck her head in tentatively.

"Michiko?" she asked softly.

"No!!" was the vehement response, and then softer:

"No.that's.that's not my name Nodoka. I stole it. It..it belonged to my mother."  
"Why?" Nokoka asked.

"Why what?" was the response.

"Why did you have to take someone else's name? What was so bad it forced you to hide who you are?"

"Y-you don't wanna know Nodoka. It's not an everybody lives happily ever after kind of story." She replied, her voice catching.

Nodoka simply looked at her, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

"sigh. Ok, I was the youngest of 3 sisters, born to my parents: Tendo Michiko and Soun. My mom died when I was 6. My eldest sister, Kasumi, took her place, She was a gentle, kind girl, and was a very good surrogate mother. My second sister, was an amazing entrepreneur. She could take practically any situation and make a profit, quite a useful talent, considering MY passion," she said.

"martial arts?" Nodoka guessed.  
"Hai. My life was one long fight, In the mornings I'd get up and go to school where," she laughed as she reminisced "believe it or not, I'd have to fight off 40 boys every morning."

"Why?! How old were you?!" Nodoka asked, as indignantly as if it had happened to her herself.

"2 reasons: teenage boy hormones and an idiot named Kuno. And it started when I was 14 because Kuno made a speech saying how only somebody who could defeat me could be my boyfriend, not that I'd date any of the losers anyway. He ended up marrying my second sister a few years back. Maybe you've heard of him. Kuno Tatewaki?" Nodoka gasped.

" But doesn't that make your sister THE NABIKI TENDO???" she asked in asked. Michiko laughed.

"Yep, very intuitive. My older sister is named Nabiki. Anyway. I was on the volleyball team, the baseball team, in the drama club. And I was the BEST, totally undisputed. But then, when I was 16 my father gathered my sisters and me around and made an announcement. His friend Saotome Genma, and his son Ranma were going to move in with us and one of us would marry him. We were furious of course. Well...I was furious. Nabiki just said" I hope he's cute" and Kasumi said "Oh, I hope he's older than me." Of course I WAS the only one who hated guys," She said.

"Well of COURSE!! What, with what you had to deal with every morning!" She said in indignation.

Michiko smiled and continued her story:

"Well they arrived. And…they weren't what we expected: A short teenage girl and a giant panda. I was overjoyed, Nabiki was really peeved and Kasumi just said " Oh my!" I asked the girl, who's name turned out to be Ranma, if she wanted to be friends. She - she was really happy about it. Later we were in our dojo sparring and-"

Nodoka cut in-

"Dojo? Your family owns a dojo?!"

"Oh yes, Tendo Dojo of Anything Goes, or Indiscriminate Grappling. I'd spent almost half my life in that building. Anyway we were sparring, kempo, She beat the shit out of me. Well she didn't actually hurt me, but she could have wiped the floor of me, trust me!"

Nodoka's eyes were wide. She'd never even HEARD of a fighter better than Michiko-Lady-whatever.

" Don't look so surprised Nodoka. No matter how good you get, there will always be somebody better than you" At this Soun's daughter looked down sadly.

"Anyway, later that night I wanted to take a bath. I walked in but it was…already occupied."

"By who, Ranma? So what? You're both girls." She trailed off as she saw Michiko shaking her head with an eyebrow raised cynically.

"No, No Nodoka we weren't. We AREN'T. Saotome Ranma was most DEFINITLY a man."  
"But-you said"

"I know. He's a Jusenkyo boy Nodoka. He's cursed and THIS-" she said and held up the photo.

"THIS is his cursed form." And then Michiko continued to tell Nodoka about her hectic engagement to one martial artist, Saotome Ranma.

Authors note: What do you think? Don't worry, you'll find out later why Nabiki's so famous. Thank you everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it. If you have any feedback, suggestions, constructive criticism I'd be happy to hear it! Thanks again everyone!


	3. an interesting mugging

He was running after her, screaming her name, pleading with her to stop, begging her to listen to him. Suddenly she turned at a corner; he ran after her, years of experience telling him what would happen. She'd disappeared, she was gone, evaporated into thin air. He screamed her name and beat his fists into the ground

"Akane!! AKANE, NO!! I LOVE you, I'm sorry I never said it, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!!! COME BACK!!" 

Ranma woke up sweating and gasping with tears in his eyes. He was used to the mix of pain, and longing, and the fear of loss that came with this particular dream, but the familiarity of the dream did nothing to ease the awful emptiness filling his whole body. 

Pushing aside the midnight blue silk sheets, he sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed, knowing he'd get no more sleep that night. He looked at the digital clock's glowing numbers: 3:30 am. Groaning he stood up. In the 8 years and 3 months since he'd been 17 Ranma Saotome had grown up. 

His shoulders were broader, he'd grown taller, and the muscles layered on his bones seemed to be made of steel cables. They weren't pronounced, and obvious like a body builder; rather, they were well-toned. Not distinctive and gross-looking, simply THERE and perfect, to any woman you asked. His hair was still jet-black and shiny, dressed in its customary pig-tail, perfecting his image. 

He'd spent the day looking at sites that had been hit by the "Blue Lion." He sighed and decided he should just do some more work, as he had nothing better to do. 

Walking stiffly he grabbed the 4 tapes on the table next to the heavy oak doors, pushed said doors open, and walked outside. He pushed the doors shut and listened to the automatic bleep that signaled the door had been electronically relocked. Then he strode down the dark corridor and opened one of the 3 doors at the end. After a second the automatic lights blinked to life, and a large gym was revealed. 

Ranma put the tapes down, and then leapt onto some bars, turning and leaping and spinning, never missing a beat or a bar, never staying still, and never showing the pain he felt inside. After 20 minutes, and several complicated katas, he picked up the tapes he'd put down, and walked to the end of the gym. There he pushed open a door into what looked like a vip lounge. He pushed one of the tapes into the vcr built into the wall, along with an extensive entertainment system. He sat back on one of the couches and watched the movie intently, with rapt attention. After all, what better wake up is there than 20 minutes of intensive martial arts training, and the rush of adrenaline flowing through your veins after remembering the one you loved, and lost... 

Ranma watched all 4 tapes. And then he watched them again, and by the third time he knew for sure. None of the tapes were real. Oh the Chief hadn't tried to trick him, he was too stupid to be able to, and too smart to try. The Chief and his department hadn't even realized it. The tapes had been wired into the camera system. They'd been taped BEFORE the actual robbery, and then wired into the system, afterwards so that while the actual robbery was taking place the guards just saw what the cameras normally saw. Then, after the fact, they saw these tapes, and thinking that the robbery was taking place, rushed down to collect whatever valuable it was they were paid to protect, only to find and empty safe, or vault, and no sign of the robber. 

"Brilliant." Ranma whispered to himself. These thieves weren't only amazingly clever but supremely cheeky. If the police had looked closer they'd have noticed that there were small, but obvious and distinctive differences in the tapes and in real life. For example: one of the tapes showed a bank robbery. The bank in the tape was an exact replica of the real one, except for one tiny, yet big difference. The floor pattern, while exactly the same, was switched. It was the exact opposite of the one in the real bank. And as he re-watched the tapes he noticed more differences: the safe door opened from the wrong side, the walls, instead of being sky blue, were a lighter, baby blue, and on the last one, the busts of various important historical figures were facing the wrong way. 

Ranma chuckled wryly and without real amusement. 

Well, at least the guy's got a sense of humor. And now I know that he's used his money to buy himself a big house he thought. He took the tapes out and walked back to his room, typing in the code on the entrance pad. The doors bleeped and Ranma walked in. He strode over to a large dresser and put the tapes away, and pulled out a photo album. 

He spent the rest of the night looking at the photo album, contemplating the fate of the fiery, young, woman in the pictures, asking himself where it had all gone wrong, and failing to come up with a good answer. 

Yes! The last donut! Come to papa baby- the unfortunate, overweight, cop's thoughts were cut of and he looked next to him in fury, looking for the owner of the hand that had snatched the donut from under his..only to see a red-headed girl inhale it at a super-human speed.

"You should be careful chief. I won't always be here to save you from those, evil, fatty, sugar-laden donuts." She continued, cheekily licking her fingers.

"YOU-you!!" He spluttered.

"Well, with that attitude I'm not sure I'll even bother helping you next time!" She said in a hurt tone. The Chief, by this time was turning red in his rage.

"You know, that tomato red is a very unattractive color on you. And if you don't stop baring your teeth at me, I won't tell you what I found out."

" You didn't find anything!" he barked.

"Now why would you say such a thing?" "Miss Yamamoto" replied pleasantly,

"We had teams of specialists look at those movies. MUCH more qualified than YOU. There is NOTHING you could've found that they haven't.' he responded, still infuriated about the donut.

"No? I guess you right. So you already know where the Blue Lion lives then? Ok I won't bother telling you information you already know…" Ranma- chan said walking out of the kitchen, flipping her hair impertinently behind her.

"WHAT?!" the chief yelled, his cheeks shaking, and the rest of him too, as he ran (well. sort of ran) to catch up with his would-be-informant. 

"Oh! You mean- you DON'T know? WOW! I thought your specialist team would've already told you this for sure!! O gosh! This means. You actually NEED something from me doesn't it?" She trailed off, acting like the bubbly, preppy-girl her cursed body looked like. The chief looked ready to explode.

"You are being paid and you are OBLIGATED to tell me what you know, RIGHT NOW!! I WILL call your boss!!"

Ranma sighed and looked bored.

"You do that. Me? I'm gonna go find some criminals who need apprehending." With that she walked away and out of the station and continued down the street and then hopped onto a roof. Suddenly, her senses tingling, she spun around and caught the dart aimed at her neck.

She unwrapped the note to it and unfolded it.

"Gotcha" She whispered, reading aloud. And then she leapt and twisted and jumped to avoid the storm of darts thrown at her from many directions. She landed on one knee and a foot and crouched down, seeking her attackers' chi.

"Urk" she grunted as she keeled over. From her limited vision on the ground she saw several pair of feet approach her. One of the feet ducked down, and Ranma saw a face, obviously female, with amber eyes, and a mask of a black lion covering her face.

"Ranma Saotome. Apparently rumors of your ability have been greatly exaggerated." She said putting one hand on Ranma's chest and using it as leverage to pull the dart from her throat.

"Did you actually think we'd miss on accident? Heh. Pathetic." The black-lion masked lady continued as she stood up, put the dart in a pouch at her hip and rolled Ranma over with a foot, so that she could see all her attackers. There were 5, all dressed in black with long ponytails, dark hair, and black-lion faced masks, showing the mouth and eyes. Around their eyes, there was black make-up, so it looked like their eyes were actually part of the mask.

"joo gr u?" Ranma said in attempt to speak.

"hm,hm,hm" the woman laughed, tight-lipped.

"We should kill you now, you know." She said, speaking softly but angrily. Her words were drawn out and spoken with deliberation. "You deserve it. But one thing the lion has taught us is to always be honorable. So we leave you, intact, and with your life, pathetic and disgusting as it is." At this point the woman crouched down again and lifted Ranma's head by her collar.

"Listen closely to my warning. Leave the Blue Lion alone. Go home, you pathetic, imposter-wench. Go back home to your mother, and stay out of our way. Next time I see you, I won't be so lenient, and you'd be fully mobile, so I wouldn't hesitate to kill you, or at least beat you until you wished you were dead. Make sure, we don't meet again." She whispered and then shoved her back to the ground. She turned around and began to roof-hop away, the other "lionesses" following her. And even though she couldn't _move_, she could still see. And what Ranma saw, blew the lioness's words right out of his mind.

They were using Anything-goes martial arts. 


End file.
